Electric vehicles, such as buses, are charged at external charging stations. Charging stations use a specific charge protocol to moderate the process of charging an electric vehicle. A charge protocol refers to a series of steps and/or procedures used to establish communication between the vehicle and the charger, and safely deliver power to the vehicle. To charge a vehicle, the charge controller of the vehicle must be adapted to recognize and operate under the charge protocol used by the charging station. The charge protocol includes software (algorithms, etc.) and associated hardware (circuitry, etc.) that cooperate to control the charging operation. Currently, there are a number of charge protocols (proprietary protocols of vehicle manufacturers and industry standard protocols) used by different charging station and electric vehicle manufacturers. One of these standards is SAE J1772, a North American standard maintained by SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers), which defines the general physical, electrical, communication protocol, and performance requirements for an electric vehicle conductive charging system. Some electric vehicle manufacturers also have proprietary charge protocols (and supporting infrastructure and hardware) which may not be compatible with industry standard protocols and proprietary protocols of other manufacturers. Customers generally desire vehicles which support industry standard charge protocols. Supporting an industry standard protocol, while also servicing an existing customer base, may require the maintenance of two different charging systems, which increases cost and complexity.
Embodiments of the current disclosure may alleviate the problem discussed above and/or other problems in the art. The scope of the current disclosure, however, is defined by the attached claims, and not by the ability to solve any specific problem.